Valadares

This band really surprised me. I was browsing the website of a local record company here in Washington, and saw their EP for sale. It was marked at only $5, and I liked the name, so I listened to a few sample clips and took a chance on it. The opening track, Manifesto (Don't Tell), begins with an a Capella intro, then kicks into straight up rock. The vocalist sounds a lot like Tess Wiley (early Sixpence None the Richer, Velour 100), one of my favorite female singers. The main style is reminiscent of Paramore, but with a more raw, rough-around-the-edges feel to it. Unfortunately, I could only find one of their songs on YouTube. Here's "Manifesto (Don't Tell)":



The record label has this SoundCloud widget featuring short clips of each song on their EP:


And other than a mention of a new track on Spotify, which I can't get to play for some reason, I haven't seen any update from them since 2017. I hope that's not the last of them, they're a fantastic band in my opinion.
If you like what you hear in the samples and video, consider purchasing their EP here.

New Year, New Music?

The past few years I've mostly forgotten about our little music blog and the friends I've made through this little endeavor. As is often the case, life snuck up on me and I haven't had much time to focus on posting music, introducing new bands and other such things. But I've come to miss it quite a lot. So, if I don't get too busy with the myriad other things (I'm now a full-time caregiver for my 91-year-old grandpa, I'm soon to be engaged, and my family has already started making plans for the wedding), I'll try to share some of the music I've discovered recently. Here's a few off the top of my head:

Valadares
Burdens Within
Small Town Titans
Brightgray
Cloud Break
NF

So... stay tuned! Here's hoping we can revive this thing!

Oh... Have I ever mentioned I write my own music? This year I'm going to try and get some more professional recordings done of songs I've written. So if you're curious what I sound like, be on the lookout for that! lol